Language changes

[JohnGalt]

AWESOME.

Enough said.

[Tamarin]

Ya...when the hell did that happen?

[The Fang Oracle]

I feel so left out of the loop.  XD  I've been without Armageddon for almost a week now, thanks to internet problems.

[Manhattan]

wait whats so different about it?

[Tamarin]

You can now change your accent, if you've been exposed to one long enough.

[HaiWolfe]

09/30/2005: Updates to languages and accents. -- Tiernan

Accent     (Character)

Accents are a manner of speaking characteristic of a region or city. On Armageddon, when a character chooses a starting location in the Hall of Kings, they are given the virtual accent of that location. This means when they speak, people from other regions may be able to tell which region they are from. Using region specific words and slang is still highly encouraged, but this feature gives a coded indication of where someone is from.

If you have in your background that you are from one region, but are starting in another location, you may be able to get an immortal to change your accent after entering the game by changing your objective to indicate that you would like your accent changed, and what region to change it to.

Note:
Knowing how to convincingly speak with a foreign accent (i.e. an accent different from your character's regional accent) is a special ability which can only be learned by listening to those who speak with the accent better than your character. Similar to learning a language, the learning curve is extremely steep at first, so that one will require a very long time to finally understand the basics of an accent.

Recognizing a foreign accent and being talented enough to convincingly speak with that accent are completely different.

A thorough understanding of the fundamentals of a language are required before one can make out the subtle nuances of an accent.

Change                                                            (General)
. . .

Change accent takes as an argument the new accent with which you wish your character to begin speaking. If no argument is provided, the list of accents your character is familiar with enough to actually convincingly speak with that accent will be displayed.

Examples:
> change accent northern

[Manhattan]

oh, sweet!

[The Fang Oracle]

SWEET!

[Synthesis]

Hmm, when I type "change accent," I get "You cannot change that."

Does this mean I haven't been exposed to enough other accents, or is there some other problem?

Side question: Does the exposure now start from the time of the code implementation, or does past exposure count as well?  My character is a frequent traveller, and has been around most accents quite a bit.

[JohnGalt]

Hmm, when I type "change accent," I get "You cannot change that."

Does this mean I haven't been exposed to enough other accents, or is there some other problem?

Side question: Does the exposure now start from the time of the code implementation, or does past exposure count as well?  My character is a frequent traveller, and has been around most accents quite a bit.

I would assume it starts now, as it is a new skill.

[Ghost]

AWESOME.

oh, sweet!

SWEET!

[Kankman]

AWESOME.

oh, sweet!

SWEET!

Let's not forget horrah, horray, hot damn, and alright! Now I'm going to eat you all.

[Larrath]

Badass.

[Xygax]

That code isn't live yet, that's why the command isn't working as documented at this time.

-- X

[LauraMars]

AWESOME.

oh, sweet!

SWEET!

Heck yes.

[Tamarin]

I just had an orgasm.

[Ktavialt]

Sweet. Now folks will be second-guessing where a potential
recruit comes from

[RunningMountain]

I don't know if this is going to be good or bad..

[Kennath]

I don't know if this is going to be good or bad..

good

[Synthesis]

Bah, you'll have even more twinks travelling to Tuluk from Allanak and hanging around, just to get the northern accent.

Then they'll return to Allanak, show off their accent to some noble or the Templarate, get hired as "spies," and start acting just like all the Tulukis, as if they'd lived there their entire lives.

Or you'll have 'rinthers who'll hang around the taverns listenening but saying nothing until they've branched the southern accent, then they'll join the Byn to get their skillz trained up and go back to the alleyways to show off their twinkorized skillz.  I mean, shit, isn't this why the Byn stopped hiring 'rinthers in the first place?

I would rather something like this have been dependent on a special application, or after much, much roleplay and a set of logs being submitted to the staff to have it added.  If it works like I think it's going to work, it's just an outright invitation for people to ignore cultural differences even moreso than they already do.

[Cale_Knight]

Shiny.

edit: Linguists should get access to a bunch of accents for free, and bards should have an extremely easy time picking them up.

editedit: Once you have access to the accent, will you know it with 100% success, or will it fail from time to time?

[Arabian Nights]

I think it's pretty cool.
Alot of things have the potential for abuse, but I don't think that it should limit the options of those that don't abuse them. *shrug*

[Jherlen]

I'd like to see stronger emphasis on culture now as well.

Everyone starting in Tuluk should -have- to wear the caste tattoos. If you want to be a non-Tuluki citizen northerner, you can start in Luir's.

Otherwise, becoming a Tuluki citizen (and getting the tattoos for it) should become harder.

I dunno, that doesn't solve everything, but it's still a step in the right direction I think.

Otherwise, I love the change.

[Arabian Nights]

I've always thought that when you point at Tuluk in the Hall of Kings that you should have your Tuluki stars when you appear in the game. If you then need any changes or anything special (like other caste tattoos or if you are a noble), then you deal with it.

It's always bugged me that you have to use some of your starting coin to get tattoos that you supposedly have had almost all your life. The same with being a gemmed in Allanak, I've thought that you should be able to add the gem in the Hall of Kings if you are a mage that was supposed to have been gemmed for some time, instead of purchasing it out of your starting coin.

Edit: Or perhaps this? When you point at a starting place on the map you go into another OOC room where you can pick out certain things specific to that starting place?

Like: You enter the game, add any scars in the first room. Point at Tuluk for example, and then you'd appear in a room where you can add your Tuluki caste tattoos. Then you'd type Enter Zalanthas or something like that and you'd procede on to the IC world.

[Sir Diealot]

Been discussed many many times, Arabian.

And gems don't cost money, simply wish up for an immortal to add it to you.

[Arabian Nights]

And gems don't cost money, simply wish up for an immortal to add it to you.

I did. And was charged for it the last time. I wasn't the times before but the last time I was. Figured maybe it was something new. I didn't just pull this being charged for it out of thin air.

[Maybe42or54]

It depends on the NPc templar turned on, or the pc templar.
It just never made sense that you had to pay for something that you were required to wear.
What are they gonna do? Say no and kill you?

[Arabian Nights]

It depends on the NPc templar turned on, or the pc templar.

No animated npc templar or pc templar involved. I entered the game, wished up and an immortal told me the cost and gave me the gem. Then instructed me to drop the coins on the ground for it.

[Larrath]

It depends on the NPc templar turned on, or the pc templar.

No animated npc templar or pc templar involved. I entered the game, wished up and an immortal told me the cost and gave me the gem. Then instructed me to drop the coins on the ground for it.

It depends on the templar.  Most templars would charge, it seems.

[bloodfromstone]

Been discussed many times, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good idea. I think it would be a great addition, myself.

[Sir Diealot]

I agree.  But its been discussed to death.  If the IMMs are going to do it.. they'll do it.

If not.. well, then they seem to be staying the course quite well.

[Ghost]

Folks have asked for this for a lot of times.

Is it realistic?  Hell yes.  Is it going to give you more chance for "plotting the evil"?  Hell yes.

So it is going to be good.

And lets not forget the additional cheers for it.

Heck yes.

Let's not forget horrah, horray, hot damn, and alright! Now I'm going to eat you all.

Badass.

I just had an orgasm.

I agree that the last one... Raises some questions about Tamarin but, it is good overall is not it?

[Tiernan]

A couple other things to note:

Your accent shows up in "score" and "stat".

You can put your accent into your prompt with the "%a" expansion variable.

[RunningMountain]

Is there any check involved that allows the person a possibility to detect their original accent?

[Irulan]

Shiny.

edit: Linguists should get access to a bunch of accents for free, and bards should have an extremely easy time picking them up.

editedit: Once you have access to the accent, will you know it with 100% success, or will it fail from time to time?

Actually, I agree that Linguists should get more accents than just the one they start with, making Linguist much more appealing for people interested in spying. Having Bard learn them more easily is a cool idea too. I think this is a neat addition, and more realistic than what was in place before. I also think it will be awesome if we get more people spying in other places after learning a new accent, or new language. I am curious how the accent will "fail" but that is probably something we will just have to find out IC. I was pleasantly surprised when I typed sco and saw my accent in there. Shiny!

[Angela Christine]

Linguists might get a bonus for learning new accents, but I don't think they should start with them.  You can learn Sirihish, Mirrikum, and Allundean without ever leaving Red Storm, but you won't necessarily be exposed to many instances of non-southern accents.  Linguists don't even start with Bendune, it doesn't seem like they are meant to be world travellers.

I think that learning accents is very useful for a spy, but that it should be learned in play like other very useful skills.  Burglars don't start out with maxed lock pick skills, spies shouldn't start out all languages and accents.  I can see it if there was a new subguild that gave accents but not languages, but not both accents and languages.




Angela Christine